Fresher hat-trick sinks Nottingham as third place is looking certain
Hat-tricks from fresher Shane Hall and the returning Jack Tew pushed the mixed team to a convincing 11-7 double-header win at Nottingham.
Despite the roughness of the home side and the controversial refereeing, captain Marcus Howe made sure they kept playing their own game. With one league game left before Varsity, performances like that, is what is needed.
This double-header win means six points for the mixed team that makes third place look quite certain for Staffs.
Captain Howe knew it was going to be a tough one but he seemed happy with the team coping with Nottingham's roughness. "The team has come a long way since the start of the season and is always getting better. The team is always able to rise to any occasion and give it their best" says Howe.
Even with the match now being 'two 25 minute halves', it did not stop Staffs from producing a top display. The surprise appearance of Tew helped a lot as his pace resulted in a quick brace of goals to give the visitors an early lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.
On the defensive side, it saw a second appearance for goalkeeper Simon Hart who seems to be the likely keeper for Varsity. Despite preferring the men's game, Hart was still producing a high amount of smart saves like he usually does on Wednesday's.
Despite looking comfortable, Staffs' lead could have made increased a lot more if it was not for some controversial refereeing. A series of what seemed to be wrong decisions was highlighted by a disallowed Chambers goal for a supposed 'dangerous shot'. As Chambers got past the Nottingham back line, his shot on goal went in off the keeper's helmet and the referee saw it as a violation of the rules that got the visitors quite annoyed.
A well-timed interval made sure Staffs kept on with the task-in-hand of collecting a helpful six points. The second half saw Nottingham putting a lot more pressure on, so a change in the back line was needed. Captain Howe decided to put himself in defence and seemed it be a master-stroke, as he was making a string of important interceptions that resulted in goals that sealed the points for the visitors. More changes were being noted as Suzanna Tompkins seemed to put herself as a midfielder to help the flow from defence to attack.
Staffs now has one more match at Birmingham Medics, and once again it will be a double-header. With this being their last bit of match practice before Varsity, Howe will want to make the most of this last match. "The thing that I am looking to reinforce in the next weeks of training and the last game is confidence. I feel that once you have confidence your whole game comes together" said Howe.
With one more league game means more excitement as Varsity draws nearer. Howe added "There is general excitement as many of the freshers have never played in Varsity yet but for us oldies its just a count down now until the big day."